November 14, 2008

I haven´t written for so long that I felt the need to say why. First, let me share with you how my interaction with my computer works. Once I turn it on, these are the sites I visit/ use everyday.

First, I go to my orkut page and have a look if I have forgotten any birthday. I also have a look at the photos + videos people have published recently. Orkut is huge in Brazil and it´s a great way to keep social contact with my students, friends and family.

Secondly, I open my twirl and check twits. I see who is online by checking who has twitted recently and explore links people suggest.

Then I open Pownce in order to check what my colleagues (from the school I work at) have been producing and sharing. We use Pownce to share ppts, exercises, lesson plans, videos we plan to use in class. I also check what my students have been writing (my students have been interacting with students from Mexico) .

I check my e-mails in yahoo by quickly browsing and selecting what is urgent to read and reply.

This is what I manage to do on a daily basis. At this time of the year, I´m so worn out and stressed thinking of the hundreds of things I still have to do that I end up not having much time to post here.

These are some of the projects I´m involved with recently / and my priorities:- I have been trying to learn how to use the e-board which has been recently installed at school.- I have to complete my online training for Cambridge examiners before the 20 Nov.- I need to find time to give a hand at the planning of our session at the next EVO.- My students have been interacting with Mexican students (Elena Delgado´s) so I have to keep an eye on that and keep it going.

November 2, 2008

I´d like to share a video I´ve put together for a class of mine next week. It shows excerpts of 6 movie trailers of films based on novels. Students will watch it and try to identify the films. The activity will be used as a warmer for a lesson we´ll be talking about novels.

November 1, 2008

It came as a great surprise to me to hear that the voice I had created in http://woices.com is one of the most popular echoes. I talked about a glacier I visited in Argentina. In fact I just wanted to try out the tool and I really enjoyed not only making it but also listening to other echoes (recordings).

So what you do is, you create a free account, select on goggle maps the location you would like to refer to, upload an image, record you audio and that´s it, you have made an echo. It offers you an embed code which you can copy to add it to your page. The tool is really interesting not only for EFL teachers but also to geography and history teachers. I can see a great potential for projects here. Check out my woices:

WELCOME!

I'm Ana Maria Menezes. An EFL teacher, teacher developer and online moderator. An enthusiastic blogger and curious researcher. M.A. in Linguistic Studies with special interest in teacher development in online environments.